Wellbore servicing systems and equipment may include a variety of pumps, which require maintenance over time. With conventional maintenance strategies, such as exception-based and periodic checking, faults which have developed in pumps have to be detected by human experts through physical examination and other off-line tests (e.g. metal wear analysis), for example, during a routine maintenance check-up in order for corrective action to be taken. Faults that go undetected during a regular maintenance check-up may lead to breakdowns and unscheduled shutdown of the wellbore servicing operation. The probability of an unscheduled shutdown increases as the time period between successive maintenance inspections increases. The frequency of performing maintenance, however, maybe limited by availability of man-power and financial resources and, hence, is not easily increased. Some maintenance inspections, such as a valve, plunger, or packing inspection may require stopping the process or even disassembling machinery. In addition, the lost production time (i.e. the time “off-line”) may cost as much as, often many times more, than the labor cost involved with such inspections. There is also a possibility that the reassembled machine may fail due to an assembly error or high start-up stresses, for example. Finally, periodically replacing components (e.g., as part of a routine preventative maintenance program) such as bearings, seals, or valves is costly since the service life of good components may unnecessarily be cut short.
Cavitation, leakage, and valve damage are common problems/faults encountered with pumps. In particular, cavitation can cause accelerated wear and/or mechanical damage to pump components, couplings, gear trains, and drive motors. Cavitation generally refers to the formation of vapor bubbles in the inlet flow regime or the suction zone/stroke of the pump, for example, as a result of local pressure drops to less than the vapor pressure of the liquid being pumped. These vapor bubbles may collapse or implode when they enter a high pressure zone (e.g., at the discharge valve during the discharge/power stroke) and, thereby, cause erosion of and/or damage to pump components. If a pump runs for an extended period under cavitation conditions, permanent damage may occur to the pump structure and accelerated wear and deterioration of pump internal surfaces and seals may occur. Detection of such conditions before they become severe or prolonged can help to avoid cavitation-induced damage to pumps, and facilitate extended wellbore servicing operation up time, avoid accelerated pump wear and unexpected failures, and further enable a well-planned and cost-effective maintenance routine. However, conventional devices, systems, and methods are insufficient to allow such conditions to be reliably detected. As such, devices, systems, and methods allowing for the detection of such conditions are needed.